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M1101 wiring headache

jimqbaum

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Lynchburg,va
Like most folks that take on trailer wiring projects it behooves one to do your homework! Yes, well, maybe. I spent a good bit of time tooling through the post sticky and otherwise on how to wire up the M1101 to the civilian 12 volt system. NOTHING and I do mean nothing was the same as most said it would be with this dang trailer. In my instance the wiring schematic did not match up to what was presented to me with the little tags at the wiring junctions and the schematic. Heck, I even had numbers on the tags that did not exist on ANY post or schematic. Its as if the factory guys were getting a good laugh at my expense. To make my agony simple to explain, I would up unplugging everything and starting from scratch at the taillight foreword. It's like the trailer was wired wrong from the factory and the military folks had to know it was wrong and didn't give a hoot. So, with the heavy wiring harness removed all the way to the junction block under the trailer, I took a small 12volt gel cell battery and a 12 volt flasher connection with me and started to reinvent the wheel. Wire by agonizing connection I was able to get it right using the delay of the 12 volt flasher as my indication as to which light was working at the taillight. What I mean is the brighter the bulb the faster the flasher and this is how I knew what I had going on back at the taillight. I had no one to help me stand back there and tell me what was going on. When you have no help you learn to get creative. After what seemed like hours (actually 3) I got the trailer wiring perfect. Now this goes without saying that the 24 volt bulbs were switched out with 12 volt bulbs. I used the simple 4 wire harness all the way from the under the trailer to the vehicle hook up (Jeep Wrangler Sport). I did not see the reasoning to convert the heavy multi-pin military plug when I was winding up with a flat 4 wire connection. I did get lucky in that the led clearance lights worked with 12 volt. I ran a separate wire back for the tag light that I had to add.
 

papakb

Well-known member
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Location
San Jose, Ca
Trailer plug wiring

Most of us just tie the license plate light into the running light circuit. You've gone through quite a bit to get this thing going and it's a a perfect reason to change out the 24v bulbs with 10-30v LEDs. That way you can pull the trailer with either a military or a civy vehicle without having to open up the taillights again.

I have found that .093" Molex connector female pins will slip right onto the pins in the trailer plug. They're available online or at most electronic shops. From the chart below the necessary connections are:

B Left brake and turn
J Right brake and turn
E Running lights
D & L Frame grounds


Kurt
 

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